InFamous: The Unusual Conduits

by Blackdrag-rose

New Marais: Recovering Wolfe

The first thing the group did, after getting a very brief call from Zeke that detailed that their might be something else for them to do while he and Kuo continued their search for Wolfe's whereabouts, was head over to one of the roofs that was nearby and waited there. The reasoning behind that decision was because it appeared that Bertrand didn't have any other helicopters in the area and they didn't want to be on the ground floor, where the Militia soldiers were running around with the intent of either killing them or the strange creatures that had suddenly showed up out of no where. When they thought about it Adagio, Aria, and Sonata shared a glance with each other, as none of them had ever seen that sort of creature before and knew that where there was a small group of creatures like it there was bound to be a hive, complete with larger and more menacing creatures than what they saw tonight. Cole, on the other hand, rubbed the area of his head that he had been smacked on by the part of the helicopter, as he was annoyed that he hadn't seen that coming and knew that they would have told him about it if they had been closer to him... but, despite his feelings, he wasn't going to blame the Dazzlings, as it wasn't their fault that he had forgotten that Bertrand might have some air support.

A few moments later Cole's phone went off and the group turned towards it, because it was likely either Zeke or Kuo calling them with a progress report on what they were doing and how their individual searches for Wolfe's location was going, to which he tapped the call button and accepted the one that was coming through.

"Damn man," Zeke said, though based on the sounds that were in the background, those that the group could hear at the moment, it sounded like he was still making his way out of the rally area in front of the cathedral, as the four of them guessed that he had hidden himself with the crowd and fled when they did, "Kuo never told us that this town was overrun by a pack of inbred shirtless crocodile freaks."

"I know." Cole replied, though while he was sure that Zeke was excited about the arrival of a new enemy, ones that weren't human this time around, he and the Dazzlings were more concerned for the people that had nearby been attacked at the rally, the innocent people that had gathered to here Bertrand speak, "I guess that means that we'll have to be careful in the future and get some information on them... despite the fact that you likely think this is awesome."

"Oh, completely." Zeke stated, his tone betraying the fact that he was going to enjoy this adventure, even if he actually didn't do anything except get additional information on the Militia, their important bases, and whatever else he happened to be searching for when he wasn't talking to one of them, "It totally makes up for the Militia being here. And it gets even better guys. I think I might have actually stumbled on a lead to Wolfe's location. I overheard some folks talking about a strange device being found over on Gaffney Street."

"Then we'll head over and take a look," Adagio said, though she was a little disappointed that Zeke thought that those swamp monsters were cool and made up for the fact that the Militia was in town, especially since they seemed to attack everyone indiscriminately.

The moment the call was over the group stood there for a few more minutes, allowing Cole to make sure that he was ready for whatever happened next, though once he was ready to go the Dazzlings took to the air as he used one of the nearby grindwires and headed off in the direction of Gaffney Street. As they headed off towards their next destination the group paused to stop a few muggings, surprising them in the process since they had figured that this wouldn't have happened since those creatures showed up, stopped another two abductions, again surprised for the same reason, and had Cole heal some of the wounded that were along their path. Despite what had happened the Militia seemed quite eager to continue their reign of terror over the fair people of New Marais, annoying all four members of the group at the same time, though the group occasionally stopped and knocked down a group of soldiers that spotted them, just to keep Bertrand in the dark as to where they were going, even if he wasn't keeping track of what his soldiers were saying. They did pause on the street for a moment or two, as one of the television stores had a broadcast about the destruction of Empire City and how many people had been caught in the explosion... but, after a few seconds of listening to it, Cole sighed and continued on his way, to which the Dazzlings followed after him, knowing that the loss of his city was a sore spot for their friend.

Despite the delays that they had faced, with the Militia being at the heart of every instance, the group was able to make their way over to Gaffney Street, where they discovered a scared man that was at the exact coordinates that Zeke had sent them, indicating that he knew the location of the strange device that Zeke had mentioned to them before they started their journey to this location.

"I'm glad that you guys came." the man said, his nervous look being slightly replaced by a look of happiness, as if he had heard the stories about the group and believed that they were heroes of the people, before he glanced off in the direction he had been staring at before their arrival and pointed at it for a moment, "I found something stuck to a wall over there. Maybe it's nothing, but, given what's been happening recently, you can't be too careful in this town."

As it turned out, because of the route they had taken to reach where the man was standing, they had bypassed the wall that the object was attached to, though as they carefully approached the object the four of them discovered that the object in question was rectangular shaped, vertical instead of horizontal, and happened to have a Blast Shard resting in the center of the device. The Dazzlings, despite the fact that they didn't didn't know much about this world, knew that this was dangerous and called for the people to get away from it, as there were several civilians that were standing around it, but as the first person stepped away from it the device fared and, thinking quickly, Adagio formed an Ice Wall in the form of a shield in the area in front of them. That was followed by the device exploding and destroying the Blast Shard in the process, though as the Ice Wall was shattered, and turned to water without hurting anyone, the group found that the people that were right in front of the device, and hadn't listened to their statement to move, had been blown backwards and were definitely dead. The only person that they had saved, who had been smart enough to move the moment one of them suggested moving, quickly thanked them for their assistance and promptly fled the area that they were in, allowing the group to look at the wall... and, as the Dazzlings looked around the area, they found that the man that had pointed out where the device was located had fled the area.

"I think there's another bomb down there!" someone said, where they found a scared lady, who had witnessed the explosion of the first device, pointing further down the path that was near them and, sure enough, there was a second device strapped to another wall, before she ran off the moment the group noticed it.

Cole approached the device and seemed to have the bright idea to absorb the electricity from it, as the Dazzlings watched as the device powered down as their friend took the power from inside the device, to which he raised his hand and pulled out the Blast Shard that had been trapped inside it, allowing him to take the power for himself instead of letting it be blown to pieces.

"Zeke, it looks like someone's making bombs out of the Blast Shards that rained down on the city earlier," Aria said, knowing that their friend would want to know what they found, though as that happened both Adagio and Sonata studied the device as Cole absorbed the power of the shard into his body.

"That's all the more reason for the lot of you to collect them, right?" Zeke inquired, as he knew that the Dazzlings couldn't use the Blast Shards and would give any they found to Cole, since he was the only one that could use the shards out of all of them, but none of them brought it up.

Of course there happened to be another Blast Shard Bomb nearby, as a cop had called Zeke about since he figured that he knew who could deal with it, and Zeke even brought up that there was another shard nearby, being carried by one of the civilians, though all Cole said was that Trish was going to smack Zeke again for even suggesting that they torment the people for their Blast Shards. As such the four of them headed out towards the area that the third bomb was located in and found the cop in question staring at the bomb, where Cole stepped forward and defused the device by stealing it's power, before pulling out the Blast Shard and continued on their way as they sought out more opportunities to assist the people of New Marais. At the same time the Dazzlings took to the air for the moment and looked at the man that Zeke had pointed out, making sure that he was safe since he was carrying the Blast Shard that Zeke had spotted, before they sighed and returned to Cole's side, where they headed to an alley where they would wait and see what happened next.

As it turned out, when the phone rang again, they were being contacted by Kuo this time around, which meant that she either had information on where Wolfe was located or had another task for them to take care of while she continued her search for anything useful.

"Hey guys, I hit up all my old connections and the closest I've come to finding Wolfe is his interrogator." Kuo said, though her tone told the group that she wasn't happy at the moment, either because they had lost Bertrand or because she was displeased with the fact that it had taken so long to get this far, "Now the guy's currently winning it really big at Black Jack, but he should be visiting Wolfe later on. I would follow him myself, but he just hit on me at the bar."

"Alright, send us the casino's location." Cole replied, though this time around he was happy to have some lead as to where Wolfe was located, because so far it was clear that they needed Wolfe's help in stopping the Beast, "We can follow this guy from the rooftops and find where Wolfe is being held, because he'll never see any of us... people never look up."

The Dazzlings chuckled at that fact, because it was true that none of their enemies, even those that had known that they were able to fly, had bothered to look up at the sky at all while they were following them, meaning that they were able to figure out where their target was located with ease. That was followed by they heading out of the area that they were in an headed towards the casino that Wolfe's interrogator was staying in, which was rather easy to get to since none of the Militia soldiers seemed to be out and about at the moment, though at the same time the Dazzlings felt something they hadn't felt in over a thousand years. It was another magical signature, which they would have been happy with, but, at the same time, it had a chaotic nature to it, one that they remembered from encountering the creature that it belonged to several times before they were banished from Equus. They were shocked, as they weren't sure what the being was doing on this planet, but at the same time this was either a good thing or a really bad thing, as the creature in question could easily turn against them or assist them... it all depended on what he was feeling at the given moment and if he had any ulterior motives for being here.

"Alright, we're in position above the casino," Cole said, speaking to Kuo for a moment, so she would know what's going on outside the building that she was standing in, even if all of them knew that she didn't like the man that was their target at the moment, "Let us know when our guy's on the move."

"That might be awhile, as he's still doing pretty well at the table." Kuo commented, though there was something in her tone that told the group that she knew something else that they might want to know about before they started their stakeout of the building, "There's also this strange man that asked about Adagio, Aria, and Sonata a few minutes ago, and the reason behind calling him that is because he's wearing two odd looking gloves, as the left one looks like it's modeled after an eagle's talon and the right seemed to be modeled after a lion's paw."

"Be careful, that creature is not to be trusted," Adagio stated, causing Cole to turn towards her for a moment, while at the same time Aria and Sonata stared at the casino, as all three of them were wondering what the creature was even doing here at the moment, "If we're right, and I don't think that there's any possibility that we're wrong, that creature is Discord, the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony. I don't know what he's doing here, I honestly don't, but be careful... he could either be here to observe us, assist us in some manner, or get in our way until someone admits defeat."

Cole sensed that there was much more to the creature than what Adagio was saying, though at the same time he could tell that she didn't want to talk about the being all that much, to which he nodded and they continued to watch the casino, so they could see where Wolfe's interrogator went and what the creature wanted.

---

Wolfe's interrogator spent the next three hours at the casino, apparently winning a good amount of the games that he played and scored big, which only caused him to stay all that much longer and annoyed the group that was watching him and the entrance. Kuo kept the line open, keeping tabs on both their target and the strange person that sat near where she was sitting, where the Dazzlings learned that Discord, if it really was him, was enjoying a drink with a miniature umbrella in it, while also glancing at Kuo every now and then. That only worried Adagio and her sisters, because they still had no idea why the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony was even here, though at the same time they kept themselves at the ready, as there was the potential for the creature to attack them and they didn't want to be caught off guard. According to what Kuo said it appeared that Discord was either using his magic to fool the bartender into pouring him drinks, even though he couldn't get drunk even if he tried, or he was using someone else's money to pay for them... or, as the Dazzlings considered a third possibility, it might have been that he was creating them with his own chaotic powers.

For a while it seemed like their target was going to keep playing until he won a specific amount of money, as that was Kuo's guess behind how long he had been here, but then she reported something strange; Discord moved his fingers a little, their target suddenly decided to bet big to triple his money, and he ended up betting on a losing hand that cost him all the money he had earned... to which he got up from the table in a huff and walked away.

"I don't know what he did, but it seems to have worked in our favor." Kuo commented, revealing that she might trust the being more than the Dazzlings did, though that was because she didn't know him like they did, and not even a few seconds later the annoyed interrogator was on his way outside and left the casino behind, "Our target's on the move, so stay out of sight until you find where he's hiding Wolfe."

As Cole and the Dazzlings followed after their target, with Cole sticking to the grindwires and the Dazzlings taking to the air once more, Cole decided to inquire how they were going to get Wolfe out of whatever building he was locked away in, where Kuo informed him that she had 'appropriated' one of the Militia trucks. Cole was honestly surprised by her actions, though at the same time the Dazzlings didn't care, as Kuo further explained that there was some code or rule somewhere that allowed law enforcement officers to commandeer civilian vehicles to prevent crimes from happening, which was what they were doing. Fortunately it appeared that luck was on their side, as the interrogator didn't have to travel too far to reach the building in question, which was a tan colored house on 8th Street, one that would prove to be difficult getting a truck into since it appeared that the Militia had roadblocks set up to stop traffic along the canal, which appeared to be their next mission. The moment they knew what they were doing, and that they had a limited amount of time before Kuo arrived with the truck, the four of them dropped down to the area that they would be working in and started assaulting the Militia soldiers that were standing outside the house.

Because of how powerful the four of them were it didn't take them that long to smash and blast their way through the soldiers and the first roadblock they had set up, allowing them to move further down the canal so they could repeat the same thing at the next one... only for something large to move through the ground below Cole's feet, something that the Dazzlings knew wasn't Discord. When they rounded the corner, and found the destroyed roadblock they had been heading towards, they also discovered that the source of the destruction was a four-legged creature that looked more like an insect of some kind, though it tore up the ground around it for a few seconds before coming back to the surface and stared at the four of them. As they quickly discovered the creature was prone to charge at whoever it was targeting and had an armored hide that caused all of their blasts to bounce off of it, but when Sonata used her grenade attack, and found that it hurt the creature, the group joined her and tossed their grenades at their opponent. That allowed them to discover that when the beast went back underground it shed off the attacks that were attached to it and that it liked to move behind them so it could charge one of them down, resulting in them avoiding the attack before retaliating with their own attack.

It took a few minutes for them to take the creature down, the Ravager as Sonata decided to call it, but when it was down the four of them moved the remaining care out of the way, including the still corpse of their enemy, and Cole made a comment about how they were now officially no longer the biggest freaks in town... before they headed back over to the house that the truck was waiting at, with Kuo and Wolfe climbing into the front seat as Cole landed on the back, though the Dazzlings stared off into the distance as they spotted a familiar figure standing on a nearby roof.

"Discord." Adagio said, staring at the seemingly human form that the Spirit of Chaos had taken, while at the same time her sisters did the same thing, before she turned and looked at Cole, "You two should get Wolfe out of here. We'll head over to where our 'friend' is standing and see what he wants... and, if he's against us, stall him before he comes after you guys and Wolfe."

Cole barely had enough time to nod his head before the Dazzlings took off, where they raced towards the roof that Discord was standing on, though as the three of them landed on the roof they heard the sound of Kuo starting the engine and her taking off... followed by Cole blowing up the Militia that were attacking them.

"Discord, what do you want?" Aria asked, though she was more annoyed that this was happening now instead of happening at a later time, when Cole might actually need their help in securing Wolfe's escape, but it was better than letting the creature do whatever he wanted.

"What, no 'hello' or 'it's nice to see you again'?" Discord inquired, though at the same time he snapped his fingers and summoned one of the relaxing chairs that the Dazzings had seen on one of the cruise ships they had spotted when they were out on the water earlier, where Discord sat on it and leaned back, "Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, Sonata Dusk, I'm wounded that you think so lowly of me."

"The last time we saw each other was when we argued about Equestria," Adagio replied, because since she and her sisters had been evil at the time they were more interested in turning the ponies against each other and feeding off them so they could expand their influence over the world, while all Discord wanted to do was play games on the ponies and twist the fabric of reality to his whim.

"Ah yes, those were good times, until we were both punished," Discord commented, remembering those days easily, despite the fact that he would prefer not to do so, before he took a sip from the goblet that he was now holding, which was different than the glass cup he had been sipping from inside the casino, and faced them, "I just came by to say hello, see how the three of you are doing, which is quite well if I'm allowed to offer my thoughts, and keep you entertained for a few minutes."

"Entertain us?" Sonata asked, as that didn't make a lot of sense, even if she was actually the only one among their number that hadn't actually argued with Discord, as she let her sisters do that, she was still confused by the choice of words that he picked whenever he talked.

"As I said, you've been doing a marvelous job at saving lives, defeating your enemies, and increasing your power," Discord said, showing that he had, somehow, been observing them and had been taking notes on everything they had done so far, or at the very least that was what Adagio suspected since no one would imagine the Spirit of Chaos doing something like that, "however, despite the powers you have gained so far, there is one thing that'll happen today that you won't be able to change. I checked with a friend before I came here, and the event is a fixed point in this planet's history, so you won't be able to change it at all... even if one of you were there to see the other truck coming down the street."

It was in that following moment that they heard the sound of a car crash over the open call that Cole had left them, so he could figure out what was going on with them and Discord, but the moment it happened the three of them took to the skies and found the burning wreckage that rested on the outskirts of New Marais. There they found Wolfe, dead and still locked into the seat he had buckled himself into when Kuo had rescued him, Kuo missing, meaning that the Militia must have dragged her away to present her to Bertrand as a trophy of their work, and a wounded Cole, who they carefully picked up and flew off to an area that Trish could meet them in so she could patch up Cole. Sonata, who wasn't carrying Cole, glanced around and found that Discord had disappeared the moment they flew off to see what the car crash was, meaning that it would be some time before they figured out what he truly wanted... and, at the same time, they needed to come up with a new plan of attack, otherwise the Beast was going to destroy the entire world without them being able to do anything to stop it.

Comments

[Ze1a7in]

Of course Discord would be hanging out at a casino. Such a chaotically vibrant and energetic place.

[badninja]

Great a fixed point in time. Those can be very unforgiving, and now I wonder just what it is?

[Ze1a7in]

9087047
It already happened. The car crash was the fixed point.

[RockinStrings]

9088071
Also, Kuo getting her powers.